Every year since 2014, we’ve asked you to help us select the male and female European Skiers of the Year. The ESOTY contest is born out of our desire to recognize outstanding talent and achievement in the European ski community.

Out of hundreds of potential competitors, we selected 24 men and 20 women as nominees for ESOTY 2023. They were picked based on contest results, movie segments, social media presence and overall influence in the freeski scene. Scroll down past the polls to learn more about our nominees and why they were selected.

Now it’s up to you, the freeski community, to help determine the 2023 European Skiers of the Year!

2023 ESOTY Nominees: Women

Anni Kärävä: When she wasn’t hard at work with stylish runs on the slopestyle and big air World Cup circuit, Anni found the time to bag some absolutely gnarly urban shots in “Forre Movie 2.”

Arianna Tricomi: Back after a knee injury that kept her sidelined in 2022, Ari filmed with Matchstick Productions in Japan for “The Land of Giants” as well as working on her own personal project, “What if…?” Oh, and she got a wildcard to ski at the Fieberbrunn stop of the Freeride World Tour, and promptly won the thing.

Coline Ballet-Baz: Taking a break from leading her own major film projects, Coline instead filmed with Matchstick Productions last season, appearing in “The Land of Giants.” She also found time to work on a project of her own called “Moonlines.”

Giulia Tanno: After a few seasons plagued by injury, Giulia came back strong on the contest scene last year, narrowly missing the podium at several World Cup slopestyle and big airs and showing that she’s still ready to do battle at the top levels of the sport. She also appeared in Faction’s “Abstract.”

Hedvig Wessel: After taking a break from the Freeride World Tour, one might have expected Hedvig to take it easy. Instead, she did the opposite, doing everything from producing her own projects (Headspace, Light in the Shadows) to starring in big-ticket productions (The Land of Giants, Unified) while staking her claim as one of the best freeriders on film.

Isabella Tvede-Jensen: Last year Isabella stacked clips for not one, not two, but three different women’s projects: Bucket Clips 2.0 and Hai, My Name Is… as well as her own street project, Sushi Buffett. Now that’s what you call getting work done in the streets.

Jennie-Lee Burmansson: The notorious JLB headed to Japan last season with an all-female crew to film for Taylor Lundquist’s “Hai, My Name Is…” where she stacked some of the project’s biggest bangers.

Johanne Killi: Johanne retired from competition after the 2023 season, ending her illustrious career on a high note with a win at the Laax Open and the Mammoth World Cup slopestyle, second in Tignes and third at the World Championships.

Juliette Willmann: Having retired from the Freeride World Tour after the 2022 season, Juliette set her sights on her next goal: pushing her limits in big mountain riding and ski mountaineering. Her 2023 film “Rise” shows Juliette growing into this new role even as she puts her freeride skills on full display.

Kirsty Muir: Kirsty took second at the Mammoth World Cup slopestyle and the Beijing Big Air and third at the Copper Big Air, and snagged two bronze medals at the X Games, the best contest season yet for the rising talent from Scotland.

Lisa Zimmermann: Don’t call it a comeback. Lisa has won ESOTY twice (in 2015 and 2016), and now she’s back in the running after a season that saw her land a spot on the Line Skis pro team, win Dew Tour Streetstyle, and show up in edits like “Canyon Closed” and “Servus.”

Manon Loschi: Although an early season crash kept her from making her debut on the Freeride World Tour, Manon still showed off her talents on film in projects like “Double Trouble” and “New Growth,” and donned one of the coveted Red Bull helmets this fall.

Mathilde Gremaud: Let’s go by the numbers here. Mathilde won four different World Cups in 2023—two slopestyles and two Big Airs. She won the World Championships slopestyle and took second in slope at the X Games. Filmwise, she made an appearance in the Faction movie “Abstract.” All in all, it was a huge year for the 2021 ESOTY winner.

Megane Betend: In her first year on the Freeride World Tour, Megane won the stop in Kicking Horse and took third in Fieberbrunn with the save of the century on her way to a third-place overall finish.

Nadine Wallner: Last year the talented Austrian freerider headed to South America to explore the freeride potential of the Andes, as documented in “Infinita Patagonia.”

Rosina Friedel: For the second year running Rosina organized the Bucket Clips movie project, providing a valuable platform for women skiers to get their shots out there. Of course, she starred in it herself, too.

Sarah Hoefflin: Perennial competitor Sarah kept her nose to the grindstone in 2023, bagging second-place finishes at the Laax Open and the Silvaplana World Cup slopestyle as well as bronze at Big Air Chur.

Sybille Blanjean: Although she didn’t have a stellar contest season on the Freeride World Tour, Sybille filmed her own freeride project “Verso,” documenting her effort to push her already impressive riding to new heights in the mountains of Valais.

Tereza Korábová: 2022 Superunknown winner Tereza spent last winter working on her own project, Relentless, which saw the Czech rider bagging street shots together with an all-female crew.

Tess Ledeux: Tess went for broke at the World Championships in Bakuriani, going all or nothing to claim the Big Air title. She won the World Cup slopestyle in Silvaplana and the Big Air in Copper Mountain, taking second in X Games Big Air and landing on multiple other World Cup podiums. When it’s contest day, don’t look for Tess anywhere besides the podium.

2023 ESOTY Nominees: Men

Daniel Bacher: Your favorite skier’s favorite skier took second place at Big Air Chur this fall. More importantly, though, he appeared in all kinds of exciting home video entertainment (GUSTO., IBK, Zugang, Kimbo Sessions edit) while generally blowing minds with every move he made on skis.

Maxime Chabloz: If the contest in Verbier hadn’t been cancelled, Maxime might well have defended his title as the Freeride World Tour champion in 2023. He had to settle for second place overall, with a second-place finish in Fieberbrunn and third in Ordino-Arcalís.

Ferdinand Dahl, Øystein Bråten & James Woods: Any of these three fine individuals might have earned an ESOTY nomination on their own. This year, however, they share a single ESOTY slot as the masterminds behind the Jib League.

Markus Eder: The only man to be voted ESOTY twice, Markus won the prestigious Nendaz Backcountry Invitational last season, and stacked clips in Alaska for a two-year project he’s working on.

Magnus Granér: In 2023 Skiman celebrated two years of the ski brand he co-founded, 1000 Skis, and played a leading role in the new movie from The Bunch, “Sensus.”

Henrik Harlaut: HH stayed as busy as ever in 2023. He dropped a street part in January, “Hussle and Motivate,” then followed up in the fall with “Brushino” together with Noah Albaladejo. All the while, he’s kept growing his label Harlaut Apparel.

Harald Hellström: The man with the pink boots and the 50-50s made something of a comeback in this year’s Forre movie, serving up some serious flavor at unique spots and sending massive urban drops like only he can.

Max Hitzig: In his debut season on the Freeride World Tour, Max dropped jaws with every contest run he delivered—including the legendary, WTF-just-happened backflip that won the stop in Kicking Horse.

Joona Kangas: For someone who’s no longer a “contest skier,” Joona sure had a busy schedule last year. From X Games Knuckle Huck to the New Zealand Winter Games, Joona’s buttery smooth style was everywhere to be seen. His crowning achievement: winning the inaugural season of Jib League.

Kuura Koivisto: A year after he narrowly missed the Olympics with a knee injury, Kuura came back with a vengeance, dropping a personal project “Dream” that showcased what this hungry young Finn is capable of.

Sleepy Grill: Together with the Buldozlife crew, Yohan Lovey aka Sleepy Grill has blazed a unique trail through the skiing world. Jibbing every possible surface—snow not required—Sleepy and the gang turned heads in 2023 with videos like BPC2 and Prive. Although there are several in the crew who might deserve an ESOTY nod, Sleepy gets the tap due to his unmistakable style.

Joel Magnusson: Joel served up some of the best street skiing of the year in Suede’s “Whats for breakfast?” And that’s all we have to say about that.

Aapo Myllärinen: We’re not sure how to pronounce his name, but that doesn’t really matter. Aapo dropped so many bangers in “Forre 2” that we’re still trying to pick them all up.

Antti Ollila: The white wizard of Rovaniemi did work in the Faction movie “Abstract” with a strong showing in the Japan segment, while otherwise generally slopping style wherever he went.

Max Palm: Despite a win in Baqueira Beret with his signature double backflip, Max’s season on the Freeride World Tour didn’t go as planned with an eighth-place finish overall. Even so, he delivered a gem of a movie project together with Baptiste Sjostrom, “Realis,” that showed his prodigious talent and passion for skiing.

Andri Ragettli: The Swiss contest machine podiumed in nearly every World Cup contest he entered in 2023, and won the Laax Open in front of his home crowd. He also took second only to Jesper Tjäder at Red Bull Playstreets.

Valentin Rainer: Valle won the Freeride World Tour stop in Ordino-Arcalís and took third in Kicking Horse on his way to claiming the overall title in his rookie year—an incredible feat for the up-and-coming Austrian freerider.

Dennis Ranalter: Dennis has been quietly killing it for years in Legs of Steel films and on Instagram, but 2023 represented his big break when the Austrian freeskier dropped his award-winning personal project “Descendance” and also appeared in MSP’s “The Land of Giants.”

Birk Ruud: Birk had himself quite the season in 2023. He won two World Cups, podiumed in two more, won the World Championships slopestyle and took bronze in Big Air. Add an X Games bronze in Big Air and you’ve got yourself one hell of a contest season. Can the defending ESOTY champ reclaim the title?

Nikolai Schirmer: The 2019 ESOTY winner continued to churn out top-notch ski content at an alarming rate on YouTube. He also filmed with Matchstick Productions and won “Best Short” at the High Five Festival together with Sam Favret for “The Draconians.”

Joona Sipola: Each year it’s hard to imagine that Joona can top the shots he stacked in the previous year’s Forre movie, and each year somehow he does it. It’s hard to imagine anyone dropping some of the heaviest urban tricks imaginable with as much style as Joona.

Matej Svancer: Aside from dropping groundbreaking new tricks in every single contest run he served up in 2023, Matej also served up a mind-melting segment in the Faction movie “Abstract” and dropped a personal project with Red Bull that showed him skiing through his high school.

Candide Thovex: Look, it’s European Skier of the Year, and it’s Candide Thovex. Stop asking questions and just accept it. On a serious note, though, the GOAT kept dropping his instantly viral clips, and debuted his own ski company too.

Jesper Tjäder: After years of contests and video parts, some pros tend to slowly bow out of the game. Not so Jesper Tjader, who’s skiing better than ever. He won the World Cup slopestyle in Silvaplana, took second in Tignes, won X Games Knuckle Huck and Red Bull Playstreets, and turned his Unrailistic projects into a full event.